The end of a decade (the start of an age)
by Dimitri's.Smexi.Shewolf
Summary: Rose didn't expect to spend NYE 2019 in a hospital, but when did her plans ever run smoothly? Post-canon, Bloodlines compliant. Fluff.


**Post-canon, Bloodlines compliant. The timeline for this assumes that the story began when the first book was released in 2007 (!). That means Rose was born in March 1990, so she would be 29 years old. Dimitri's 36. Don't come for me if my maths is wrong. I tried.**

* * *

The Queen's New Years Eve party was always a lavish affair. Champagne flowed freely, and the value of the couture in the ballroom alone could have kept a small country afloat for the incoming year. Anyone who was anyone had been invited- Moroi, dhampir, even the odd Alchemist who wasn't a complete asshole.

On a normal year, the spectacle was dazzling. At the end of a decade, it was downright insane. I could scarcely remember ringing in 2010, inebriated as I had been. Back from college from the holidays, stressed and desperate to forget about deadlines for the night, Lissa and I had gone a little overboard.

With age had come prudence, and we had never made the same mistake again. This year, Lissa had been determined to ensure the Disaster Of 2010 was scrubbed from the Court's collective memory by holding an event to rival any Tatiana had ever planned. I thought hiring silk dancers and fire-eaters went a little overboard, but they had looked pretty cool when their show had begun. Everything had been great, actually, for the half-hour I had been able to enjoy it.

Oh, I had no doubt that the party was still in full swing. I was just no longer there.

At 22:34 on the 31st of December 2019, I was sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair in a hospital waiting room, listening to my best friend's screams.

From the sound, you might have been forgiven for thinking that Strigoi were attacking. But no, Lissa's battle was of a different kind, even if there was just as much strength involved.

On the chair beside me, Christian twitched with each of Lissa's cries. "Perhaps I should go and see her," he said for the millionth time.

"Don't even try it," I warned. "If she doesn't want _me_ in there, she _definitely_ doesn't want you. It's your fault she's in this situation anyway."

Across the room, Adrian hummed in agreement. "Best if you stay away for now. I'm sure Syd broke my hand when Liam was born." He flexed his fingers and grimaced.

"Where are our better halves?" I wondered, glancing down the corridor. Sydney and Dimitri had wandered off in search of coffee ages ago. "I'll kill them if they've snuck back to the party."

"Syd wouldn't have left the kids," Adrian said, rocking four-year-old Roisin as she slept against his shoulder. "If your husband's done a runner, then he's acting alone."

Lissa wailed again, and it was Christian who looked like he wanted to run away. I'd never seen him so pale, even after he'd been attacked by psi-hounds all those years ago. While Adrian excelling at fatherhood had come as a surprise, Christian's state of utter panic at the impending responsibility had not.

There was a tug on my pant leg, and I looked down to see Liam staring up at me with his huge emerald eyes.

"Is Auntie Lissa going to be alright?"

"Sure, kid," I helped him up onto the empty chair beside me. I wished he'd go to sleep like his sister, or put headphones in and watch a movie on Adrian's phone like his big brother. Declan had experienced the birth of two younger siblings; this didn't bother him anymore. "I think Uncle Christian might need a hug, though," I whispered to Liam. "Why don't you tell him how much fun you've had playing with the car he got you for Christmas?"

Liam beamed at the mention of his new favourite toy, bouncing over my lap and into Christian's. As he launched into the story about chasing his grandfather around Court with a remote-controlled car, I got up to stretch my legs. Almost an hour had passed since Lissa had thrown me out of her private room with the comfy seats and the plastic chairs were taking their toll. At least I'd been able to change out of my ballgown. Packing a pair of my own sweats into Lissa's hospital bag had been nothing short of a stroke of genius.

I smelled the coffee before I heard Dimitri and Sydney approach. Judging by their dilated pupils, they'd drunk a few cups in the café before returning with the to-go cups.

"How's it going?" Sydney asked as she handed Adrian his drink.

"Still no news. Can't be long now from the sounds of it, though," I answered before taking my herbal tea from Dimitri. He kissed my forehead, which warmed me more than the drink ever could. "Adrian thought you'd run away," I told him.

"And miss the birth of the Royal Baby?"

"We'll all miss it if she doesn't let us back in soon," Christian griped.

"You did your part nine months ago," Sydney told him sharply. Since she'd given birth twice herself, nobody argued with her. "She has Sonya, so it's not like she's alone."

That rankled me a bit. Yes, I knew that Sonya was there for medical reasons as well as moral support, but I couldn't help feeling jealous. It wasn't _me _that had gotten her pregnant, after all.

Even as I was mulling over the injustice of it, the door to Lissa's room opened. A harried-looking midwife stepped out. "Guardian Hathaway? The Queen would like you to come back in now."

In a heartbeat I had shoved my half-finished drink into Dimitri's hand and barrelled into the room. I was greeted by the sight of a flushed, sweaty Lissa. For perhaps the first time in her life, she looked less than perfectly presentable. Childbirth was apparently enough to beat even the prettiest of criers. I'd have felt smug she hadn't been suffering so much.

"Hey gorgeous," I said, moving to take her hand. "How're you doing?"

Lissa's eyes were bright with pain. "I can't do it, Rose. I thought I could, but I can't." She sounded utterly defeated.

"Of course you can!" I looked to Sonya, panicked. I hadn't heard Lissa talk like this in years.

"She means without pain medication," Sonya explained.

Lissa nodded vigorously. "I wanted a natural birth like my mom and Sydney did, but it's too painful!"

"So get painkillers," I said like it was obvious. Because, well, it was.

"I don't want to be weak!" Lissa wailed on the crest of another contraction. "Just this once, I want to be strong."

I grabbed her hand regardless of Adrian's warning.

"Liss, I love you, but right now you're talking shit. You're the strongest person I know, and taking pain medication is not going to change that." I thought I knew where this was coming from. Even after all this time, Lissa was still self-conscious about taking medication for her mental health. It was like she thought that, somehow, enduring the pain of childbirth would counteract that weakness she perceived in herself. "Remember when I broke my ankle that time and it hurt so much I passed out? And you healed me because you didn't want me to suffer?" She nodded. "Was I weak then?"

"Of course not!"

"Then neither are you. Take the painkillers- for your sake, and for Christian's. He's going insane out there." _For my sake, too_, I wanted to add, but I didn't want her to see how much her pain was affecting me. Yeah, I did see the irony there.

Lissa looked up at the nurse. "Is it too late to do that?"

"Not at all." The nurse looked relieved; probably glad that she was able to help her Queen. She handed Lissa a mask and instructed her to breathe deeply. After about 20 seconds, Lissa began to relax. Her grip on my hand loosened, and she smiled nervously.

"That feels better."

The midwife ducked between Lissa's legs and set her jaw. "Good, because I'm going to need you to start pushing." The relief on Lissa's face rapidly morphed back into panic.

"Do you want Christian?"

Lissa nodded, and Sonya went to call him in.

* * *

At one minute past midnight on the first of January 2020, Natalia Rhea Rosemarie Ozera Dragomir was born.

"You can't give her five names," I argued when Lissa told me she was honouring me with her firstborn's middle name.

Christian snorted with amusement. "Of course you can't just be grateful, Rose. I was against giving her your name, by the way."

I would have flipped him off, but my hands were full with the precious cargo that was my new niece. Already she had jade green eyes and a full head of thick, black hair. There was no doubt whose baby she was.

"I just think she's going to struggle to write them," I grumbled, already looking out for the kid. Somebody needed to. "Remember how much we complained about spelling our names as kids? I had to defend our honour by throwing books."

Lissa smiled mischievously. "Then you had better see about making Natalia a Guardian of her own!"

I bit my lip. Dimitri shifted behind me, and I turned to look at him. We needed only a look to communicate, and the answer to my unspoken question was a resounding _yes_. "About that…" I began as Dimitri dug around in his duster pocket.

Sydney was the first to catch on. "No way." Beside her, Adrian grinned. He must have already seen it in my aura.

Dimitri handed the picture to Lissa, and I covered Natalia's ears against her mother's delighted shriek that followed. The poor newborn was all but forgotten as our friends clustered around to look at the ultrasound photo.

"When are you due?" Lissa gasped, wide-eyed.

"June."

"A summer birthday!" Lissa's gaze softened as it fell on her daughter. "It's a shame Natalia's birthday is so close to other holidays."

"At least she'll always have a party to go to!"

Christian jolted out of the dreamy trance he had been in since the birth. "Oh my god. Don't talk about parties." I could see him spiralling at the thought of his baby girl drinking and dancing her way through the New Year.

"Welcome to parenthood," Adrian joked. "Speaking of which, we had better get these little terrors to bed."

The 'terrors' were all asleep in a pile on the room's lone armchair, doing a very poor job of living up to their name. After lots of juggling, Sydney and Adrian managed to get them all bundled up in their arms and set off for home. Just after they left, Christian's phone rang.

"It's Eddie! His shift must have finished."

I passed Natalia back to Lissa so Christian could show off his daughter through the magic of a video call. I hugged Lissa gently, careful not to either hurt her or obstruct the camera's view.

"Mia will visit tomorrow," I told her, relaying the message I had received earlier. "Do you want her to bring you anything from the outside world?"

Lissa's eyes lit up and she reeled off a list of supplies that couldn't be found at Court. I remembered maybe half of them, but promised to pass the request along anyway.

After teary farewells, Dimitri and I walked the long way home, frequently stopping to wish passers-by a happy new year. Our apartment was small, and we would need to move somewhere bigger before our child was born. Having met little Natalia, the realities of my own impending parenthood suddenly hit me.

"Next New Years, we'll have a baby of our own," I mused. Dimitri gripped my hand tighter. It was a daunting prospect. Not only would we face the challenges every parent did, but we had the added complication of being the first two dhampirs to conceive and raise their own child together. Though our world had been told a few years ago that it was theoretically possible, that was very different to actually witnessing it.

"Are you ready to make history?" Dimitri asked, following my thoughts as always.

"Comrade, I've been making history for years." I threw him a wink. "Besides, I'll be thirty by then. I'm sure I'll magically become mature enough to handle it."

His answering smile was fond. "You said that about turning eighteen."

"And I was right; look at how grown up I am! Queen's Head Guardian, doting aunt, mother-to-be. Married to the world's best husband…"

Without breaking his hold on my hand, Dimitri shifted so his arm was around my shoulders. He hugged me close. "You should add 'world's best wife' to the list."

"That was implied." Our apartment block was just up ahead now, and I couldn't wait to get into bed. Childbirth was exhausting, even when you weren't the one doing all the work. "Where do you think we'll be in 2029?" I mused.

Reeling me in with his other arm, Dimitri turned me to face him. I'd looked into those eyes a million times, but they always took my breath away. How was it possible that he was even more gorgeous than the day I met him?

"I hope we'll be right here," he said, voice low and sending a thrill down my spine. "You, me, this one," his hand caressed my still-flat stomach, "and all the rest of our family."

Then and there, as I stood on my toes to kiss Dimitri, I made my resolution. To _be here_, every day, with the people I loved.

* * *

**Me this morning: I think I've written a few NY fics before, but one more can't hurt.**

***Checks profile* One NY fic, written in 2013, after I'd "been writing for almost a year".**

**Wow. Time flies. I said then how grateful I was for everyone who had read my stories and helped improve my writing, and that's even truer now than it was then. Some you reading that have been around since the beginning, and I'm so grateful that you're still here listening to my rambling. Happy New Year Everyone x**

**P.S- new chapters of ALS3 and Finals Week are nearly done, so keep an eye out if you read those.**


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